Neurodegenerative diseases are collectively a leading cause of death and disability. Examples of neurodegenerative diseases include progressive multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, neuropathic pain, Huntington's disease and traumatic brain injury. While the ultimate causes and natural histories of the individual neurodegenerative diseases differ, common pathological processes occur in most, if not all, neurodegenerative diseases. These common pathological processes include high levels of activated glial cells (“neuroinflammation”), dysregulated glutamate signaling and chronic damage to axons and neurons.
Progressive multiple sclerosis (P-MS) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease that affects approximately 120,000 people in the United States and 350,000 people in the developed world. P-MS patients progressively accumulate disabilities, including changes in sensation (hypoesthesia), muscle weakness, abnormal muscle spasms, or difficulty moving; difficulties with coordination and balance; problems in speech (dysarthria) or swallowing (dysphagia), visual problems (nystagmus, optic neuritis, phosphenes or diplopia), fatigue and acute or chronic pain syndromes, bladder and bowel difficulties, cognitive impairment, or emotional symptomatology (mainly major depression). The only drug currently approved to treat P-MS in the United States is mitoxantrone (Novantrone), a cytotoxic agent that is also used to treat cancers. Mitoxantrone has a serious adverse effect profile and carries a lifetime limit on exposure. The treatment of P-MS remains a significant unmet medical need.
There are three major sub-types of P-MS recognized by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (US): Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis (PP-MS), Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis (SP-MS) and Progressive-Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis (PR-MS). Approximately 85% of multiple sclerosis patients clinically present with Relapse Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RR-MS), characterized by episodes of acute neurological deficits (relapses), followed by partial or complete recovery of the deficits. After a median time to conversion of around 19 years, approximately 70% of RR-MS patients develop a progressive neurological decline, clinically recognized as SP-MS. Approximately 10% of multiple sclerosis patients clinically present with PP-MS, characterized by a progressive neurological decline with few to no preceding episodes of neurological deficits (relapses), while 5% present with PR-MS, characterized by a steady worsening disease from the onset but also have clear acute flare-ups (relapses), with or without recovery, e.g. Compton et al, Lancet 372:1502-1517 (2008); Trapp et al, Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 31:247-269 (2008). Here, PP-MS, SP-MS and PR-MS are grouped together as P-MS, as they share many similarities, including natural history, clinical manifestations and pathology, e.g. Kremenchutsky et al, Brain 129:584-594 (2006); Lassmann et al, Nat. Rev. Neurology 8:647-656 (2012); Stys et al, Nat. Rev. Neuroscience 13:507-514 (2012).
Thus far, drugs that are effective for RR-MS have not shown efficacy in P-MS, e.g. Fox et al, Multiple Sclerosis Journal 18:1534-1540 (2012). This is believed to be due to current RR-MS drugs primarily targeting the peripheral immune system (B and T-cells) while P-MS is instead driven by resident CNS inflammatory cells, including microglia and astrocytes, e.g. Fitzner et al, Curr. Neuropharmacology 8:305-315 (2008); Weiner, J. Neurology 255, Suppl. 1:3-11 (2008); Lassman Neurology 8:647-656 (2012). Recent evidence suggests that the efficacy of mitoxantrone in P-MS may be due to inhibition of activation of astrocytes, thereby linking anti-neuroinflammation with efficacy in P-MS, e.g. Burns et al, Brain Res. 1473: 236-241 (2012).
In addition to resident CNS neuroinflammation, P-MS is also accompanied by the loss of axons and ultimately death of neuronal cells. The mechanisms that drive axonal and neuronal damage are not completely understood, although glutamate excitotoxicity is one of the leading suspects in human P-MS, e.g. Frigo, Curr. Medicin. Chem. 19:1295-1299 (2012). In particular, oligodendrocytes are especially sensitive to elevated levels of glutamate, e.g. Matute, J. Anatomy 219:53-64 (2011). Subsets of MS patients have been demonstrated to have elevated extracellular glutamate levels in the cerebrospinal fluid, e.g. Sarchielli et al, Arch. Neurol. 60:1082-1088 (2003) and P-MS patients have an increased incidence of seizures and neuropathic pain; both conditions may derive from excessive glutamate signaling and are treated clinically with anti-glutamatergics, e.g. Eriksson et al, Mult. Scler. 8:495-499 (2002); Svendsen et al, Pain 114: 473-481 (2004).
Another neurodegenerative disease thought to involve excessive glutamatergic signaling is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which affects approximately 100,000 patients in the developed world. ALS patients progressively lose motor neuron function, causing muscular atrophy, paralysis and death. The average lifespan after diagnosis is only 3-5 years. Riluzole (Rilutek) is the only known treatment that has been found to improve survival in ALS patients; however, the treatment is effective only to a modest extent by lengthening the survival time by only several months. Thus treatment of ALS remains a significant unmet medical need.
At the molecular level, ALS is characterized by excessive glutamatergic signaling leading to neuroexcitotoxicity and motor neuron death; see, e.g. Bogaert et al, CNS Neurol. Disord. Drug Targets 9:297-304 (2010). Affected tissues in the spinal cord also have high levels of activated microglia and activated astrocytes, collectively recognized as neuroinflammation; see, e.g. Philips et al, Lancet Neurol. 10:253-263 (2011) and neuroinflammatory cells have been shown to drive disease progression in ALS animal models; see, e.g. Ilieva et al, J. Cell Biol. 187: 761-772 (2009). The glutamate pathway has been clinically validated in ALS, as Riluzole inhibits multiple glutamate activities, including the activity of AMPA glutamate receptor; see, e.g., Lin et al, Pharmacology 85:54-62 (2010).
Approximately 10% of ALS cases are familial, while the remainders are believed to be sporadic, with no clear genetic cause to date. Among the familial cases, approximately 20% are due to mutations in the SOD1 gene. Mice and rats genetically altered to contain the mutant human SOD1 gene develop motor neuron disease that phenotypically resembles human ALS. Because of this, most potential ALS therapies are tested in the SOD1 mouse or rat model for efficacy.
Excessive glutamatergic signaling is believed to play a causal role in neurodegenerative diseases besides P-MS and ALS. For instance, neuropathic pain is a chronic condition caused by damage or disease that affects the somatosensory system. Neuropathic pain is associated with neuronal hyperexcitability, a common consequence of excessive glutamate signaling, see, e.g. Baron et al, Lancet Neurology 9: 807-819 (2010). Neuropathic pain may manifestin abnormal sensations called dysesthesia and pain produced by normally non-painful stimuli (allodynia). Neuropathic pain may have continuous and/or episodic (paroxysmal) components. The latter are likened to an electric shock. Common qualities include burning or coldness, “pins and needles” sensations, numbness and itching. Neuropathic pain is clinically treated with compounds that possess anti-glutamatergic activity (e.g. Topamax, Pregabalin). Importantly, sulfasalazine has previously been shown to have efficacy in models of diabetic neuropathy (e.g. Berti-Mattera et al, Diabetes 57: 2801-2808 (2008); U.S. Pat. No. 7,964,585) and cancer-induced bone pain (e.g. Ungard et al, Pain 155: 28-36 (2014)), and is currently being evaluated in clinical trials of painful diabetic neuropathy (see Massachusetts General Hospital, Clinical Trials Identifier NCT01667029).
Other neurodegenerative diseases where compounds with anti-glutamatergic activity are used clinically include Parkinson's disease (Amantadine and Budipine), Alzheimer's disease (Memantine), and epilepsy (Carbamazepine, Lamictal, and Keppra). Anti-glutamatergics are being investigated for treatment of traumatic brain injury, Huntington's disease, multiple sclerosis, and ischemic stroke. In many cases, these neurological diseases are also accompanied by high levels of neuroinflammation. Other neurological diseases that are linked to excessive glutamate signaling and neuroinflammation include Rett Syndrome, Frontotemporal Dementia, HIV-associated Dementia, Tuberous Sclerosis and Alexander disease.
The system xc− glutamate-cysteine exchange transporter (herein “system xc−”) is the only glutamate transporter that normally functions to release glutamate into the extracellular space. The amount of glutamate released by system xc− is sufficient to stimulate multiple ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors in vivo. Current anti-glutamatergics target either the vesicular release of glutamate or individual glutamate receptors that lie downstream of glutamate release (e.g., riluzole to the AMPA receptor). In contrast, system xc− is responsible for the non-vesicular release of glutamate and lies upstream of the individual glutamate receptors. The protein xCT (SLC7A11) is the only currently identified catalytic component of system xc−.
Sulfasalazine (also referred to as 2-hydroxy-5-[(E)-2-{4-[(pyridin-2-yl) sulfamoyl] phenyl}diazen-1-yl]benzoic acid, 5-([p(2-pyridylsulfamoyl) phenyl]azo) salicylic acid or salicylazosulfapyridine) is a conjugate of 5-aminosalicylate and sulfapyridine, and is widely prescribed for inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis. Sulfasalazine is degraded by intestinal bacteria into its metabolites, 5-aminosalicylate and sulfapyridine. The mechanism of action in inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis is unknown, although action in the colon may be mediated by a metabolite, 5-aminosalicylate. Sulfasalazine has been shown to be an inhibitor of system xc−.

The current U.S. on-market formulations of sulfasalazine (e.g. Azulfidine®) have poor bioavailability, with only approximately 15% of the compound reaching the circulation following oral dosing (see, for example, Label for Azulfidine®sulfasalazine tablets, USP). A major toxicity concern is exposure of the gastrointestinal tract to sulfasalazine, where it causes nausea, diarrhea and cramping in a dose-dependent manner, see e.g. Weaver, J. Clin. Rheumatol. 5: 193-200 (1999). An additional toxicity concern is sulfapyridine, one of the metabolites of sulfasalazine. Sulfapyridine is highly (>70%) bioavailable and is believed to be produced by intestinal bacteria, see, e.g., Peppercorn, M., J. Chin. Pharmacol. 27: 260-265 (1987); Watkinson, G., Drugs 32: Suppl 1:1-11 (1986).